Emergency Vehicles

In the CFS, appropriate vehicles, called appliances, are needed to carry the various items of equipment required at incidents. All CFS appliances are white in colour and have reflective and fluorescent striping and patterns applied to ensure high visibility in hazardous conditions.

With so many types of incidents attended to across the state, a wide range of appliances available to suit the risks and terrain of each response area of each brigade is required.

The following pages outline the many different types of vehicles used by the CFS and what they are used for, and what they carry. Actual specifications may vary from those listed and the equipment requirements will vary between brigades.

Use the menu options shown on the left to see examples of the different types of emergency vehicles that exist in the SA Country Fire Service.

Identifying CFS Vehicles

Most vehicles in the CFS fleet are identified by their station name, and a two digit number (Pondooma 34 for example). The '34' is actually pronounced "three - four". The first digit is the amount of water the vehicle carries, in thousands of litres. The second digit is the type of drive the vehicle has, in this case, it is 4WD capable. The numbers may also be prefixed with A, B or C. depending on the number of similar numbered appliances in the brigade, or suffixed with letters to identify other specialist equipment carried.

Specialist vehicles are identified by their roles. This allows easy identification of the vehicle and its role in the emergency it is attending.

This appliance is from the Auburn brigade, it has 3000 litres of water on board and is 4WD capable.

Naracoorte Rescue for example is a specialist rescue appliance, carrying specialist rescue equipment .

Coonalpyn 24P carries 2000 Litres of water and has a larger pumping capacity for the Urban areas.

In May 1999, the CFS Promotions Unit held a Photo Shoot which would gather appliances and crews from all over South Australia so members could get together and see what other equipment is in use around in other Brigades. The picture below shows these appliances and crews setup.

Photos taken by the CFS Promotions Unit.